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Project Copycat Clones A Cat
texchanchan writes: "'Copying' is not limited to other people's proprietary files. Soon you'll be able to 'share' their prize Siamese. From Yahoo news: "A domestic cat was cloned late last year in a Texas A&M University research program called CopyCat....Cloning research at the university has been funded with more than $3.5 million in investments from John Sperling, an 81-year-old financier who formed Genetic Savings & Clone Inc."
(These Texans know how to name things, too.)"
Anyone who can raise that much funding for a feline cloning program called 'CopyCat' has a real future in marketing or political fundraising.
I bet Bob Barker is furious.
Dancing with the Devil leads you to obesity and liver problems.
:-)
Procreate, don't recreate. Of course, for humans Procreation is recreation.
BTW, the cat doesn't look like its adult version because womb conditions dictate the formatting of the fur.
Dancin Santa
Why is it wrong to copy a CD, but not a living creature?
There are much bigger ramifications in the latter type of "copying" than the former.
I'm not afraid of falling, it's the sudden stop at the end that frightens me.
The clone wars are going to be fought with a spray bottle and a rolled up newspaper?
Bad Lord of the Sith! Bad, Bad!
Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
Are they going to justify this by saying that it's essential for cat parents who can't have a baby the traditional way ?
Do what you wilt shall be the whole of the law Love is the law, love under will Capital drives the will of mankind
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday February 14, @2:45PM
Sr. Taco,
You have just been engaged. For God's sake, man, why are you not taking the rest of the day off to reflect upon this life-altering decision that has been wrought?
Clone your favorite pussy,click here!
Congratulations, CmdrTaco!
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Oh, how quickly we forget Alba, the first cloned pet. Of course, the Alba story was much more interesting because he was an albino rabbit with jellyfish genes to make him glow.
"John Sperling, an 81-year-old financier who formed Genetic Savings & Clone Inc."
Good grief. Talk about lame ass naming pun.
At least he didn't name it CowboyNeal
Sent from your iPad.
Here is a link to the BBC story, with a picture of the cat (named "Cc:").
MEoW.
There are times when frustration gets the better of you and you just need to kick the cat. It's comforting to know that in the future we can make backups first ;)
Doguerreotype
Dancin Santa
God files suit in Texas court, cites numbers copyright violations on the part of Texas A&M University.
The Almighty God (Yaweh, The Big Guy, Jehovah) filed a suit in a Texas court today, seeking to block further progress on the CopyCat project, a cloning experiment out of Texas A&M University.
"I'm PISSED!" God was quoted as saying. "It took me days, well a day, to come up with the design of the Cat. It's mine Dammnit! My Cat profits are going to plummet!"
A representative from Texas A&M could not be reached for comment.
best web host ever
Both John Sperling and George Soros on the same Slashdot page and neither article is about their involvement in Medical Marijuana. Give me a Peter Lewis and we'll have the complete set.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
mimeomutt
If it ain't a Model M, it's a piece of crap.
- This is a genetic clone, the same as an "identical twin"
- Even "identical twins" are often not actually identical; for example hair and pigment patterns often differ. The same is true for clones.
- While temperament and other characteristics are likely somewhat inherited prenatal nutrition and womb environment have significant if poorly-understood effects
- Furthermore how the animal is raised (nurture) also has a profound influence on the temperament and behaviors of an animal
So, while this critter may indeed may be a clone it is not the original reincarnated and will differ in any number of ways.Finally, contrary to any number of unimaginatively-written SF& Horror stories clones haven't shown any special abilities or to be any more susceptible to demonic possession (though with Siamese cats this may be moot - who could tell if they're being unnaturally evil?) However there is a high rate of failure and the produced animals have shown a greater susceptibility to illness and abnormalities (again, with Siamese cats this is also about par for the course already.)
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
This will be funny, the errors that are appearing in genetic replication that lead to obesity,
Ever notice the more dysfunctional someone is the fatter their cat ?
This will be hilarious, first a genetic predisposition to obesity, followed by some loon that just cant let go of "Fluffy" I can see it now CAT-KONG (Its a funny childrens book)
An 80 lb cat, a shortened life span and an already neruotic owner that couldnt let go thie first time around, watch this become a really sad vicious cycle, copies of copies, getting fat and dying yet faster than the last time around. Maybe I should go after a Vet Liscence.....
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
Great...so there really is going to be a "RePet."
I just hope they don't also actually invent that creepy doll.
They cloned the wrong Pussy!!!
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
From the article "The Humane Society of the United States opposes pet cloning, the Journal said, because of the danger of overpopulation."
:-)
;-(
I don't understand why they are really worried about this. It is quite apparent that a person who is willing to spend big bucks on having their pet cloned obviously loved the animal in the first place.
I could however understand an objection to say a pet breeder having prize animals cloned, but they never made any distinctions and this technology does have practical applications for grieving pet lovers.
I know I would love to have a copy of my dog Mookie who died a few years ago.
- I'll bash you in the face.
"The 2-month-old kitten called "Cc:" is the first successful product of a program..."
So was it a "Bcc:" when it was born?
- Freed
"Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love." -Turkish Proverb
Said to be a member of yet another Jesus-freak-christian-cult, an unidentified man has destroyed the cloned kitty in the name of God. Authorities have already begun their investigation and until the man is identified, he will be known as ...
Gawd? Do I have to finish it?
... is here as per my journal.
Also has a pic of the cat. Its named "Cc:" (seriously).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Cripes, here I'm joking about it, but then I find this at the end of the article, "The Humane Society of the United States opposes pet cloning, the Journal said, because of the danger of overpopulation." Yeah, cloning is going to cause cat populations to go all out of control.
I do not have a signature
People who would clone their cat rather than adopt another one disgust me. According the article, the new cat probably won't look the same anyway! And whether it will behave the same is also questionable. So in other words, it is both unethical and pointless to clone your cat.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
There's just no end to the lengths geeks will go to get a little pussy... :)
This tagline is umop apisdn.
Jack Valente announced today that the MPOA will sue the cat cloners to fore them to include Digital Right's Management technology in all cloning equipment: "Breeders put a lot of work into those cats. If anyone can make copies, who will breed cats?" Microsoft announced that code in Windows Media Player is not to blame for mysteriously well-targeted banner ads for cat food aimed at people who play more than the usual amount of soft rock.
I wrote parts of this stuff
we just got a preview of the script for Cats & Dogs 2. ;)
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
What, they cloned the ::::CueCat? Isn't that illegal? :^)
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
I mean, cats practically clone themselves if left outdoors. Just look around my neighborhood
"The human society is against closing pets because of the dangers of overpopulation."
Why? This is the smartest idea for pets ever. Think about it -- the Human Society encourages everybody to spay or neuter their pets to discourage overpopulation. Now what if we engineered pets that are genetically incapable of breeding? There's no danger of "accidents," no need to be cruel to unwanted pets. There's a much better means of discovering the nature of a pet. Want a dog that's good with children? Don't pay for a "breed" that's good with children, only to get a monster like my parents adopted(a stubborn 95 pound Airedale terrier). Pay for exactly the dog you want. Get exactly the size and colour animal that will fit your lifestyle, and don't worry about "cloned" personalities as personalities are developed through training.
Sound sickening? It shouldn't. Cloned pets are a direct extension of breeding. It's not the orwellian nightmare that cloning humans is. And if all the cloned pets are cloned sterile (which, I might add, is a great deal for both the cloners and the pet loving public), there's no danger of overpopulation. It's not like a cloning machine can meet another cloning machine under the hedge and make whoopy.
Think of it like seedless watermelons.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
The cat recently cloned by Texas A&M University filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming its DNA was illegally reverse-engineered. When asked for his opinion, the cat said, "I did not give my consent for those scientists to use my DNA, which has been a carefully guarded family secret for generations. How am I supposed to produce unique offspring now? Those gene sequences are MINE, dammit! I demand that the copycat be destroyed immediately. If I find out my gene sequences are available on Morpheus, I'm gonna be REALLY ticked. I'll fight this one all the way to the supreme court if I have to, if it takes me all nine of my lives."
Vacuum chamber? You're kidding, right? Please tell me you don't actually believe that.
I wish I was wrong. I really do. Please remember that the SPCA is not necessarily related to the City-funded Animal Shelter. They may work closely together, for obvious reasons, but animals who are placed in SPCA shelters have a longer 'save' time and a better chance of being adopted.
In my city, the two are actually in the same building, and when you take an animal to the pound, you can opt to pay an additional fee so that they are housed in the SPCA side of the shelter. They get 'lethal injection' rather than decompression when their time is up.
Animals who are left in the city pound or are picked up off the streets don't have nearly such an easy time. They are given days, rather than a weeks or more, and when their time is up, they are placed in the vacuum chamber.
God, I wish it wasn't true. I wish the donations I made to the SPCA would make it not true.
Scarily enough, a common science project for high-schoolers interested in biology in my town is to take an animal carcas from the pound, render the flesh, and then reassemble the skeleton. When I was in high-school, my biology teacher had instructions on how to repair rib bones that had been broken when the animal's chest cavity exploded in the near-vacuum.
This is in Texas, a big state, but the same state that is giving you 'CopyCat'.
Yes, the research is important, and will be useful. But it should *never* be used to create pets or service animals when such an overpopulation of those domestic animals exist.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I heard that the scientists were in trouble with the BSA, because the "mother" cat was clearly labeled with "Do not make illegal copies of this cat"
I also heard that the cat won't work until it's activation key has been received from Microsoft.
>>Hatchbacks to take care of the rottweilers, SUV's to take care of the Hatchback, Semis...
and the beauty of it is that the Semis freeze to death come winter!
Given the problems already showing up with Dolly the sheep, already having problems associated with old age, why not try cloning from a stem cell?
I'd think that, by using the nucleus of an adult stem cell, you'd get all the DNA needed. Every strand of the DNA would then still have the telomers on it that gradually get "used up" when a normal cell divides. Perhaps that way, all the cells in the cloned animal would start out eactly the same as a normal embryo's cells.
Perhaps that's the way to go, not by taking the nucleus out of just any old cell, but by using an adult stem cell. They seem to have found these in several sites on the adult body - in fat removed by liposuction, and in the fat behind the kneecap in humans. I'm sure they can find them in analogous places on animals.
Lemon curry?
Finally be able to say you controlled the experiment fully. None of those pesky but group x got cancer and group y didn't but group x was more prone to cancer kind of issues. Both the experimental group and control have the exact same predisposition. So feeding clones crap causes cancer end of story.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
"Ripping and sharing DNA is a crime, and it hurts Me on both a financial and a personal level," intoned the Deity, "and while it pains Me that I must file suit against My children, I must protect My intellectual property from drifting into the public domain, where it could be used by My competitors." God refused to specify which competitors he feared, or what they might do with the genetic algorithms.
"God is simply trying to hold on to an illegally-gained monopoly," stated longtime competitor Satan at a press conference held shortly after in Redmond, Washington. "He's afraid that if genetic protocols are opened for public use, the market would be flooded with non-God organisms, which would of course detract from his brand," added Satan, better known by his stage name, "Prince of Darkness", or by his ubiquitous online handle, "PrttyKtty666". Satan claimed that numerous studies had shown great demand for a wider variety of animals, and that this is the scientific breakthrough that could eventually lead to world populated by Elves, Unicorns, and Dragons. "People love dragons. People love Unicorns. Hell, people even love dinosaurs! Did you ever see Jurassic Park?", opined the source of all evil.
Other major figures in this field have yet to make their voices heard; Religious leaders Buddha, Krishna, Jesus of Nazareth, the Dalai Lama, and Oprah refused to take a stance one way or the other.
Think about this. How many people out there would pay serious money to have a chance to "hit the reset button" if something happens to a cherished pet. I've had a dog that died, like all dogs do. Nothing could replace her because she was unique and there are some things that even cloning can't copy. But I would have moved heaven and earth to have a chance to start over again with a puppy that would have at least grown up to look like her. Dare I say that my parents would have even taken out a 2nd mortgage on the house for the money if cloning was an option.
This is more than just the "gee-whiz" factor of having the fastest PC or a TIVO with 2 Terabyte RAID storage. This is dealing with people's emotions and people with money will spend it like drunken sailors if they know that a few thousand dollars can get them an exact living, breathing, physical copy of their pet after they die.
Yes, well, as the BBC article says, "Cc: is a copy of her genetic mother, not of the surrogate cat which actually gave birth to her." So she is a clone.
In other related news..
The Free Software Foundation announced Thursday the beginning of a new 'software' project known as "gnuCat' and a related project 'CatGNiP'. From RMS's announcement, "Building the perfect feline companion through a collaborative community effort will ensure that the species' genetic code remains free of restrictive licensing and that users will be able to modify and extend their cats to suit their needs.' For example, users of gnuCat will be able to configure the cat's color, size, obesity, and proclivity to scratch furniture, using a simple ncurses menu system. gnuCat developers are already discussing a new way to automatically configure the cat's code based on the user's personality. One group is already working on a branch of the CVS tree for a cat that has no claws or teeth and eats only an inexpensive paste made from common household ingredients. Another developer is working on a pre-emptive patch for gnuCat which allows it to be more responsive in deciding whether it wants to go outside or stay in. Project leader Felinus Hairballs says, "We're hoping to have gnuCat litter trained out-of-the-"box" by version 2.0"
don't we already have enough Katz?
unless it's several hundred clones that are all released in Universal's headoffice..
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Man created god(s) in his own image...
"Information wants to be paid"